Recent work in England (Cefas) on discarding issues ( ) Future planned work ( ) MARIFISH (NORWICH JUNE 2008) Dr Andy Revill (Cefas, England, UK)

( ) Cefas have examined key discarding issues What is discarded ? Does it matter? What can be done about it ? Do mitigation measures really work?

What is discarded ? (How much?, when?, where?, why?, who?) Highly mixed fisheries (200+ species) Discards span a broad length range Towed gears produce most discards Discard rates for towed gears 18 – 71%

What can be done about discarding ? Linked to causes > 85% of English discards are undersized commercial fish / non commercial species – i.e. due to poor gear selectivity Quota / quality related discarding is minor cause - < 15% Pilot testing gear modifications to reduce discards ( ) Beam trawlers / Nephrops trawlers / whitefish trawlers

Providing escape routes for unwanted and juvenile fish England: Pilot studies to make fishing gears more selective

England: Have PAST mitigation measures really worked? Case studies (a) North sea Nephrops trawlers - YES (b) North sea whitefish trawlers - YES (c) North sea brown shrimp beam trawlers – YES (Partially)

Future needs ( ) Firm evidence that technical measures can work Future England ( ) Cefas has just started a 5 year research programme to further address discarding in UK (English) fleets

– Discard issues Emerging EU discard policies Public, NGO, buyer perception on discards Stock conservation, EAF EU Technical conservation measures review (changes to MLS, new mesh rules etc) Rising fuel costs European Fisheries Fund (EFF) RAC’s Coordinated international actions Collation of catch and discard data at regional levels Addressing knowledge gaps ERANET’s (i.e. MARIFISH) Incentives for industry (offset for reduced profit) Transition to less impacting fishing methods